A great time for minority businesses
Dabar Development Partners is a black-owned business that became certified with the City of New York as a minority-owned business in 2009. Since then, owner Dawanna Williams has been awarded more than $100 million in city contracts, resulting in a steady stream of revenue, greater recognition for her business, and generational wealth for her family.
A once in a blue moon story? Not at the Department of Small Business Services (SBS), where Dawanna is one of many entrepreneurs whose business reached new heights after becoming certified as a minority or woman owned-business (M/ WBE) with the city.
Now is the best time to run a business in New York City, including for minority and women business owners. Mayor Bill de Blasio recognizes that a strong pipeline of diverse businesses supporting the work of government builds a stronger city – and is committed to awarding $16 billion in city contracts to M/WBEs by 2025. The city is well on its way to achieving this goal: SBS has certified a record of more than 5,000 M/WBEs that are now eligible to compete for these contracts.
Williams was able to take advantage of contract opportunities with the city because she certified as a M/WBE – one of many free services offered at the seven NYC Business Solutions Centers operated by SBS in all five boroughs. Entrepreneurs can visit these centers to take business courses, get connected to responsible lenders, receive free legal help, and even receive recruitment services to build up their teams.
As part of the city’s commitment to shared prosperity for all business owners, it is also providing additional support to foreign-born business owners. Foreign-born business owners represent nearly half of New York City’s 220,000 small businesses. The SBS Immigrant Business Initiative, created with the support of Citi Community Development, is working with local partners to provide one-on-one counseling and outreach in six languages - Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole and Bengali.
There are more good reasons why it’s a great time to start a business in N.Y.C. For the first time, there is a coordinated effort across city agencies to help small business owners by cutting government red tape and streamlining the process of opening a business. The Small Business First plan, unveiled by the de Blasio administration in 2015, was developed to make entrepreneurs a priority and move government out of the way. As a result, SBS is helping businesses open two to three months faster, and there has been a 40% reduction in fines against small businesses.
Mayor de Blasio is putting small business owners first, and together we are making sure our city’s prosperity is a shared prosperity. If you run a M/WBE business, make sure you get certified by visiting nyc.gov/getcertified or by calling 311.
Bishop is commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services